Contract Hit or Accident?

There is a news story about at the moment. A small one perhaps, but tragic as well. Apparently two, renegade, 4-year-old preschoolers took a festering vendetta to the streets of a New York neighborhood, the sidewalk to be exact, in an all-out, training wheels drag race. Rumors abound as to what the race was to settle but the fact remains that in the end neither child's playgroup could claim victory. In the end, an 87-year-old woman lay dead on the street. Well, not on the street, but in a hospital. And not that day but three months later. I know I don't have to emphasize the tragedy involved in a life taken too young and for no good reason.

It's not like the kids couldn't have played rock, paper, scissors or even raced upon foot like the good ol' days. That is neither here nor there as my mom likes to say. As the judge mentions in his opinion kids don't have carte blanche to engage in risky behavior. And I'll tell you we all know there is nothing riskier than racing on training wheels. Now there is a chain of events unfolding that a judge in NY has decided not to stop.

As our litigious society would have it the family of the woman has decided to sue the 4-year-olds. The NY judge has decided though the statute states any person 4 or under cannot be held liable at least one of these children was very close to 5. We can address the sound reasoning of this judge in another place. A woman is dead. At 87 who knows how many more decades she could have seen? The "what could have beens" swirl around in her family's imaginations as they all meet at Bill Knapp's for the weekly 4 o'clock dinner. Their sadness is palpable. Just as the families of the now school-aged children realize their dreams of private school are likely squashed due to the impending legal costs and potential settlement. No one wins here.

I can't help but ask the question "was this an accident or was this a contract hit?" Did these two, preschool gang bangers set out to snuff out a life? Maybe they should pay. Someone should always pay where there is a chance to sue and get paid. My worry now is knowing this won't solve anything. It won't bring back great grandma. Worse yet -- where does the violence end? After the lawsuit there is sure to be retribution likely meted out on the mean streets. And then we're just back to square one. Rodney King's voice rings through my memory at times like these. "Can't we all just get along?"